Brendan Greene, the creator of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), is developing a challenging new survival game that he admits "a lot of people" might hate. This bold new project, titled "Prologue: Go Wayback!", represents a dramatic shift from his battle royale roots toward a more unforgiving wilderness survival experience.
The game takes place across a vast 64km² procedurally generated landscape, created through an innovative combination of in-house art assets and public access terrain data processed by machine learning technology.
Players begin their journey in a randomly placed forest cabin, armed with only basic survival tools - a torch, ferro rods, binoculars, a physical map, and a compass.
"I want to make a space that is hard and difficult because I do think a lot of gamers like that," Greene told Games Radar+, reflecting on his love for challenging games that dates back to the original Doom.
Unlike traditional survival games, Prologue gave up modern gaming conveniences like minimaps and waypoint systems. Instead, players must rely on their navigation skills and environmental awareness to locate a mysterious radio tower somewhere in the wilderness. The journey involves managing basic survival needs like food, water, and shelter while battling against harsh environmental conditions.
According to interviews, this single-player survival experience serves as a stepping stone toward Greene's more ambitious Project Artemis - a massive 10,000-kilometer "realistic Minecraft" that has been in development for five years and may require another decade to complete.
"For me, yeah it's a risk," Greene acknowledged when asked about moving away from the battle royale genre that brought him success. "But I'm...I used to say stubborn, but it's more 'single-minded'. This is the game I've wanted to make."
The game features emergent gameplay systems that ensure each playthrough offers a unique experience through its dynamically generated challenges and environments. Greene said that the development team is focusing on creating an immersive experience that rewards player skill and environmental awareness rather than following traditional gaming conventions.
Prologue: Go Wayback! is scheduled to launch in Q2 2025 on PC through Steam's Early Access. The developers plan to use the early access period, expected to last approximately one year, to gather player feedback and refine the game's systems.
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